Late Stage Tournament Strategy Your strategy needs to be related to where you want to finish. You can play tight-agressive (TAG) for an ITM finish. If you’re playing to win however you’ll need to play more loose-agressive (LAG) and take bigger risks, for example, shoving pocket pairs early. During the late stages your strategy is going to depend on several things. Things like your (effective) stack sizes, your position in relation to certain opponents and your stack size in relation to the other stacks. You need to pay attention to all of this. It's going to affect your opening/stealing strategy, as well as who you can lean on.

Phil Hellmuth Poker Tournament Strategy – The Middle Stages. Stealing Blinds: When the antes begin there is a better mathematical argument for stealing the blinds from late position. The amount you win with the addition of the antes means that your risk / reward ratio is better.

Deep stack tournaments allow for the most actual play of all forms of poker, with the exception of no blind increase events. The entire premise of a deep stack tournament is for players to really let their skills do the talking and to eliminate as much luck as possible. Wiping out all luck is an impossible task when it comes to poker tournaments, but deep stack players are able to capitalize on the skill factor much more than regular tournament players.

With this advantage comes a noticeable tradeoff. Deep stack tournaments take a lot longer to complete than any other game. As a result of this increase in playing time, player stamina will be of the utmost importance. Stamina is always something that matters in poker, but it never matters more than when in an enduro tournament. This is one of the facets of play that a lot of players tend to completely discount. No one, even poker players, really considers poker to be a game where physical performance or condition actually matters.

The truth is, however, that it can be the difference between a solid play and a big slip up. There is a reason that savvy poker players try to target the guys who have been playing all night in a brick and mortar casino. The more tired you are, the more likely it is that you will donate some or all of your chips.

Deep stack play is all about picking your spots and taking your time. You are given a lot of chips so that you can pass up on your weak hands and get in the middle when you have something to actually work with. Luckily for you, this is a foreign concept to a lot of players. There will always be those players who think that a deep stack tournament is just like every other event, but the truth is that deep stacks are very different.

Try to spot the players who are playing way too fast and are clearly not in it for the long haul. Unless you are truly prepared for what’s in store, deep stack evens can be incredibly grueling and even quite boring.

Again, this is where endurance comes into play. If you can mentally outlast the players who don’t have the patience to play with restraint, you will find that a lot of pots fall right into your lap. Deep stack play is not about creating opportunities, but instead allowing the opportunities to fall into your lap. This is the exact opposite advice of what you would expect, but it is the absolute truth. The later stages of a deep stack tournament will call for more decisive action, but you won’t need to worry about that for awhile after the first hand is dealt.

Profiting from Passiveness

You just read about how a passive approach is the road to riches in deep stack tournament poker. So, how are you going to profit from the passiveness of other players? When the other players stay in slow mode, it will be your chance to crank up the aggression. The pitfall that many players fall into is misidentifying exactly when that stage of the game has arrived. You won’t be working with a short stack and big blinds for a long time, so don’t even worry about changing gears for at least a few hours (depending on the size of the field).

Eventually, though, you will start to run out of chips and it will be time to make moves. You can profit from this by putting the pressure on before your opponents have even considered possible adjustments to their strategy.

Small Edges and Consistent Play

Even the final tables of deep stacks will allow for a moderate amount of post flop play. Unless you have a fair amount of experience with this type of event, it will be awkward to try and play post flop poker with just a few players left. The natural inclination for a tournament player is to pick up the pace and push/fold when the final table is assembled. This will be necessary eventually , but it will be a detrimental strategy if you implement it too early.

The end goal in a deep stack is the same as in any type of tournament. You need to be able to make constant changes that will put you in a position to win. These changes will be much more mild in their implementation in a deep stack tournament, but they will exist nonetheless. You need to be able to do what everyone else is doing, but slightly better. This is why skills are so valuable and the entire basis of all success in deep stack play.

The last bunch of players will probably be very good at what they do, so your edge is not going to be significant. It is unusual for tournaments, but a deep stack is going to allow skill to prevail all the way to the end. If you don’t think you have the patience to sit and remain focused for hours on end, you will probably be better suited in a tournament with regular stack sizes. Deep stack tournaments are profitable, but only for a certain breed of players.

Poker Tournament Late Stage Strategy 2020

Poker Tournament Late Stage Strategy Tactics

Close Out the Win with Late Stage Tournament Strategy

Written by Haunted Poker for exclusive use.

First of all, congratulations on making it to this point in the tournament. You’ve outlasted a good number of opponents, and you’re in the money. At this point, you need to make a push for the final table and eventually first prize. What you do at this point will largely depend on the size of your chip stack in comparison to the blinds, and the type of players at your table. Generally, you should take advantage of your chip lead by putting pressure on the short stacks and if you are the short stack, you should be looking for the best opportunity to shove it all in.
As the tournament winds down and players fight for higher positions in the payout ladder, the blinds usually become astronomical. Not only is this the case with small-stakes online poker tournaments, but it is becoming increasingly standard in casino events as well. This low number of chips in play in relation to the size of the blinds increases the luck element of the game, as it forces players to gamble on hands that they wouldn’t normally incorporate into their strategy.
At all times, you should be aware of how many rounds of blinds you’ll be to able play before you go broke. If you have 4,000 chips left and the blinds are 500/1,000 you’re in a dangerous situation. You can only play 2 or 3 more rounds without improving your chip count. Whenever you’re down to 5 or 6 or less times the big blind, you should be looking for opportunities to go all-in.
You can’t wait much longer for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you want to have enough left to put pressure on your opponents with your all-in. If they all fold to you preflop, you’ve bought yourself another round of play. Secondly, if you just call, you won’t have much left on the flop and you’ll be faced with a tough decision if you don’t connect. Since you’ll already be committed to the pot, save yourself the trouble and go all-in – you won’t have to make any more decisions in the hand. Hands you should consider going all-in with include any pocket pair, a decent Ace, King, or two face cards. Even suited connectors aren’t big underdogs to overcards, so consider making a move. The key is to be aggressive and put pressure on the rest of the table when you’re the short stack.
However, what if you find yourself in the fortunate position of being the chip leader or one of the bigger stacks left in the tourney? You shouldn’t sit back and rely on those chips to coast you to the final table. You’re playing to win, so keep building your stack and allow yourself to remain aggressive. Because you have so many chips, you can afford to gamble a bit with some of the shorter stacks. In tournaments, drawing to straights and flushes too often usually spells disaster. However, I recommend that you bet aggressively when you pick up a draw as a chip leader. If you’re heads-up on the flop and you greatly outnumber your opponent in chips, consider putting him all in with middle pair or a draw. He’ll have to have a very strong hand to risk his tournament life, and most of the time you’ll pick up the pot with your large bet.
Also, you can call all-in gambles from short stacks if you have any pocket pair and you suspect they have something like A-K. You can afford to lose those coin-flip hands, but you’ll be in great position if you come out ahead. The worst thing you can do with a chip lead is to sit on it and allow the blinds to peck away at you. Maintain your lead and at least pick up the blinds every round if possible.
As you work your way to the final table, play usually becomes increasingly sophisticated and tight. If the rest of the table won’t put any chips into the pot and everyone is too timid to risk going out before the final table, punish them. Throw in big raises preflop against weak opponents until someone fights back. Reaching the final table is an imaginary boundary, and since you’re playing to win the whole thing why not exploit their timid play and pick up a few extra blinds?
Once you do reach the final table, you can probably advance a few places just by allowing the maniacs to do their bidding. Many players are content with their final table finish, and will get “chip happy” for a couple of rounds. As the table becomes shorthanded, you should realize that starting hands go way up in value, and you’ll need to play your opponents more than your cards. With less opponents left at the table, the blinds will be coming around much faster.
Now more than ever, you’ll need to open up your play, steal the blinds at opportune times, and look for weaknesses in your opponents. You might consider slowplaying your monster hands, as it is more unlikely that you will be outdrawn in shorthanded play. Study your opponents and the cards they show since you’ll be seeing them in almost every pot. Finally, if you make it to heads-up play, you’ll have to stay aggressive and raise most hands from the small blind to take control. Don’t be afraid to get all your chips in the pot with any Ace, a decent King, face cards, or any pocket pair. The end of the tournament is all about maintaining your chip lead and taking risks when you need to. Exploit a tight table, wait for stronger cards at a looser table, and never reserve yourself to anything less than first prize. My my, you didn’t think that vampires could be so competitive, did you?